


Oath of Companionship

by Alecto



Series: Can I get a mulligan? [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Established Relationship, Fictober 2019, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: January 26, 2014If Jounouchi wanted to spend his first hours after turning 20 trespassing, Kaiba wouldn’t stop him. No. He stayed to make sure the idiot didn’t accidentally break his neck.





	Oath of Companionship

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober Day 1 prompt: “It will be fun, trust me.”
> 
>   
  


Jounouchi took a running start and jumped to grab the wall ledge. To Kaiba’s surprise, he hadn’t collided head-on with the white-washed wall first. With an impressive show of upper body strength, Jounouchi boosted himself up and vanished over the top of the wall. 

Kaiba mentally counted up from one. He reached ten before wondering if he should have tried harder to dissuade Jounouchi. 

“It’ll be fun,” Jounouchi had needled while pulling Kaiba away. His eyes sparkled in a familiar way when he added, “Trust me.”

Then when he and Jounouchi took leave of the party, Otogi and Honda shouted a few lewd remarks. Jounouchi only smirked and shot back a complicated series of lewd-looking gestures, guffawing at his friends’ mock scandalized expressions. That he neither cursed them out nor picked a fight was a testament to Jounouchi’s good mood. Or to the three beers he’d drank. 

Whatever. If Jounouchi wanted to spend his first hours of legal adulthood trespassing, Kaiba wouldn’t stop him. No. He stayed to make sure the idiot didn’t accidentally break his neck. 

At the count of twenty-three, the school gates swung open. 

Jounouchi grabbed his elbow and pulled him onto the grounds of their alma mater. As they crossed the courtyard, Jounouchi’s grip slid low until their fingers tangled together. Neither of them wore gloves, so they relied on each other's warmth to fend off the late January chill. They slipped into the darkened building with no trouble. Jounouchi led the way by the light of his cell phone. Their footsteps echoed through the deserted corridors. At this hour, the school could serve as the perfect setting for a horror movie. 

Kaiba smirked, tiptoeing closer to hiss, “Boo.”

Jounouchi jumped and nearly head-butted Kaiba’s jaw. He looked over his shoulder and pouted/glared. “Not funny.”

He rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes. 

With another yank on his arm, they set off again, climbing up the stairs. To his surprise, they went right past the third floor, where their old classroom was located. They continued their ascent all the way to the rooftop. The winter cold hit Kaiba like a wave. He’d almost warmed up after their jaunt through the building. Jounouchi dropped his hand and rushed to the fenced ledge—breathing a trail of steam in his wake. Kaiba pulled his scarf higher before sticking his hands into his coat pocket. As he approached the edge, he plotted the best way to steal more body heat.

“Man, this place brings up so many memories!” Jounouchi exclaimed. He then pointed to a spot several feet to their left. “Anzu almost took a dive right there.”

Kaiba stared. First at the innocuous spot on the ledge, then at his boyfriend. “Excuse me?”

“She was being mind-controlled. There was that weird guy with the Millennium Ankh, and he challenged Yuugi to a game—“

He shook his head and cut off the rest of Jounouchi’s explanation. “So the usual.”

“You betcha.”

Kaiba took another step closer. “Is that why you wanted to come here? To reminisce?”

Jounouchi shrugged. “I guess? Not all the memories are great, like getting chased through the halls by a mummy or the insane amount of bullying in our first year. But there’s a lotta good ones too.”

Kaiba found it difficult to argue against him. Coming to Domino High had been a turning point in his life. He might have crossed paths with Yuugi otherwise through the Duel Monsters tournament circuit. But without meeting Yuugi, would he have met Jounouchi? If they weren’t classmates, would he and Jounouchi ever have attempted friendship? Even in their first year, Kaiba was only vaguely aware of his classmates’ tomfoolery.

“Tell me more about them,” he said.

Jounouchi launched into several colorful tales of when the Pharaoh first woke among them. Kaiba’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher into his hairline with each story. If he hadn’t been a firsthand witness to later events, he might suspect Jounouchi was lying. Whoever heard of a gang of Yo-Yo-wielding delinquents? 

Below them, suburban Domino laid dark and peaceful. It was the polar opposite of the view from Kaiba’s downtown office. Eventually, they focused on the events of their last year of high school: courage tests, school trips, and missed birthdays. The memories, somewhat faded but no less sweet, ached like cavities.

“See?” Jounouchi nudged his shoulder. When he leaned close, his hot breath fanned across the side of Kaiba’s neck but his teeth chattered slightly. “I told ya this’d be fun.”

For a moment, Kaiba was transported back in time. To another moment where Jounouchi’s suggestive grin and bright eyes first tempted him to “have fun with it.”

His hand crept across the small of Jounouchi’s back before coming to rest on his hips. Kaiba pressed his face into Jounouchi’s hair and merely hummed in response. His definition of fun—electrical engineering and complex board games that took an hour to set up—didn’t always match Jounouchi’s. Especially not petty crimes. But this? The last two years? Their relationship? Kaiba had learned to appreciate the wisdom of that. 


End file.
